The Good Old Days? - New Article by G.L. Pease for September 2022

[anotherbob]

I find myself agreeing with Mr. Pease a good deal here. He implies it, but I will say it directly: people have a tendency to get drunk off nostalgia. Make a fairly niche product that has a devoted fanbase, and good portion of them will eventually opine about how the product was better made during the days of their youth. Sometimes this is true, sometimes not. But I think the human memory has a way of sweetening certain reminisces beyond their actual quality.
For example, I have a soft spot for Smith & Wesson revolvers. If you go to, say, one of their social media pages where they showcase one of their newer revolvers, you'll almost always find a few boomers griping about trivial changes and make paeans to the old world craftmanship that apparently all the older wheelies were subject to, unlike the crass new guns of today. Some of these criticisms are valid, to be sure, but what animates them all, generally speaking, is not objective criticism, but a devotion to an exaggerated past that they unfairly compare the present to.

To offer a particular case from the example above, when S&W reintroduced their K-frame .357s, they fixed what were design flaws in the old models, namely, they beefed up the forcing cone (which reduces flame cutting) and used ball-detent lockup to keep the ejector rod more securely in place. Whatever one's opinions are on the new K-frames (and there are, believe me, very valid gripes to be had), any objective person would agree that those two things are mechanical improvements to a classic design. But the hardcore nostalgia fans refuse to believe ANY S&W revolver made after 1989 can be better than the ones they already own.

Nostalgia gets in the way of viewing things objectively. That is also true of pipes.

that they don't make things like they used to is a great example of the survivor paradox. Basically we see the products that at their time where made to last or well made you know the ones that stick around and assume that they were a product of their time, instead of what's true that only quality lasts. My first experience with that was with music. Oh the music was so much better back in the x0's or the decade after that. Then actually researching what people listened to and realizing most popular music has always been kind of shitty with a few greats that are great even to people not born when they got recorded. I love talking to kids about the 80's and 80's and showing them some of the stuff that was on the radio a lot and that was more popular in terms of sales then the stuff that makes me so lucky to have grown up in a time when music was better. Back to the original point most of the pipes made back in the day are gone. They broke or no one cherished them enough to keep them or keep them in good shape. The pipes we get from then either lasted because they where made with quality or where just so much nicer and cherished that they got well taken care of and survived. They don't represent the standards of their day.
Pretty much same thing you said.
And to rant even more. I think one of the fuels of nostalgia is just that we survived most of the issues we had back then. And that takes some if not most of the punch out of the problems. Sure we starved and were broke but that doesn't matter because it never ruined or killed us so easy to forget when we remember the good times. I think one of the best examples in my life is the 80's. When people talk about how great they were, they forget the things like the threats of the cold war including the threats of nuclear devastation and the real threat that one little mistake could kill so many people. A computer glitch could make the Russians think we have attacked them. Reagan might secretly have dreamed of being the worlds biggest serial killer and punted the football (not a comment on him, but on the fact that knowing he could have wiped out the world as we know it with a button press is a good way to induce insomnia). But you know now that it's passed not such a big deal.

 

[anotherbob]

Oh reminds me of my pet theory that the briar commercially available to carvers has a higher floor then it did in the past. That the worst commercial available briar now would have been somewhere in the middle of the quality spectrum in the past. In part because well there isn't the same demand for pipes and the market is different. People want a pipe to hold onto. (when did the estate market start? And when did it become the thing it is now where it would be easy to have only estate pipes of whatever quality or variety you want?). This is based solely on conjecture and is only a strong suspicion on my part (i.e. if you prove me wrong I won't be surprised).

 

[Briar Lee]

I'm sorry but I can't agree with the notion that a pipe will wear out in time. Ok, maybe a thousand years.... If it's a quality pipe that is treated well it can go almost forever. The five Castellos below (yeah, I know, I've shown them before) have never had any "treatment" done to them, not even polishing. They've been smoked regularly for almost 60 years and still look and smoke great.... not even much in the way of teeth marks.

View attachment 168560

One of the greatest gifts (and worst curses) that was instilled in me from my cradle is that as to matters such as the immortality of a briar pipe I’m liable to be dead wrong in my beliefs.

I’m dead certain a pipe can be abused and burned and used up. I’ve seen those pipes. An old man who smoked one pipe to death and then bought another gave me one, and it still smoked, but horribly.

In front of me is a Four Star Lee that’s not the best smoker I own but yet still an excellent one. I’ve just finished it, and I’ve tried refilling a hot pipe and for whatever reason, if I do that it won’t taste good, so I wait or grab another pipe. I think I’m sure a pipe needs rested between smokes but it might have been forty some years ago since I refilled and smoked a hot pipe.

A pipe itself is a personal thing, the tobacco we like another choice, and who is to say a good pipe might not last forever?

I hope this Four Star is an everlasting pipe and I’m wrong about it being good for just so many smokes, before it looses its goodie.

If it does loose it’s goodness, I hope I don’t live to see it.

 

[RudyH]

I'm repeating myself but.... I had an uncle who would smoke his pipe (Yello-Bole} until it got clogged then he chucked it and bought another one. Whereas I, who he made fun of for buying quality pipes, am still smoking those pipes I've had for almost 60 years.

That's my kind of pipe ownership! And the ownership of other good quality items. Buy quality. Quality has no regrets except the initial sticker shock. Take care of it. It lasts a long time. And it is a joy to use.

 

[cigrmaster]

Grabow, Lee and Kaywoodies of yesteryear and the like are inferior pipes compared to many artisan and current factories. . They are inferior compared to the old Camineto's from Radice/Ascorti. They suck compared to any Castello or Radice, or Mastro de Paja or Don Carlos, Savinelli, Estellas. I could name plenty more.

This is of course just my opinion. I am a nobody when it comes to pipes but I know what a great pipe smokes like. I have experience with high end Danes, English and Italians , Formers, Balleby's,Barbi's ,Matzholds, pipes that would sell from 2000-3000.00 They are as pretty as you can get and their grain can be incredible but you can't smoke grain. I had a Castello KK Fiamatta in shape 49 that smoked great and is one of 2 pipes I wish I have never let go. I had never seen Angel hair grain as good as that except on a Former I owned.



I think filters and stingers make it harder to smoke your pipe as you are accumulating nasty tobacco juice.

Please don't take my comment about filters and stingers as mine is the only right way and if you like the filters and stingers more power to you. I am just voicing one mans opinion and I would love to see people ditch their filters and stingers and quit smoking their pipes with them. I believe with practice you would be surprised at how the pipe smokes and tastes.

 

[Derby]

This reminds me of my childhood, in the seventies, in my grandmother's village where I grew up. The wonderful tobacco tobacconists, the market square, with those mixed smells of fruits, vegetables and smoked fish, cheeses, homemade cottage cheese. The sound of the church bells, the streets wet from the rain, the smell of the kitchens of the bars, and the traditional pastry shops, we only had two television channels. My God, I want to go back to the seventies.

I know the feeling

 

[ATLpipe]

This was a wonderful read.

 

[PipeIT]

Great article thanks!

Not to rub it in anyone’s nose, we all seem to get each other, we just share and talk is all.

So...

I guess I’m fortunate/lucky is all, and I truly hope, for whatever pipes you all wish for, you are too.

And since a vintage ad of Dr. Grabow was shown in the article, I can’t believe what an amazing Grabow I found, in like new mint condition.

The vulcanite stem on this thing hardly ever oxidizes too.
I too always look back on the history of the company and whoever owned this, where it’s been and the stories it can tell.

I’m honored I can be the bearer of this history now.

Dr. Grabow: Commodore 65 Zulu, dated from 1967-1969.



P.S. I just had to share when I saw the Grabow ad! You guys rock, love and peace to you all!